


Coffee with a slice of lemon

by Pizzama8



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Mental Health Issues, Multi, OT3, PTSD, Polyamorous relationship, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 17:01:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9081535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pizzama8/pseuds/Pizzama8
Summary: After an unsuccessful mission and an encounter with Lena Oxton, a  wounded and defeated Widowmaker stumbles into an apartment to escape pursuing Overwatch agents after taking a bullet to the stomach. In another timeline Talon would have picked her up in an hour, but this timeline has other plans and the apartment she stumbles into belongs to Emily, the girlfriend of the woman that had almost taken her life.Conflicted however; Emily can't decide if she should finish off the international assassin to protect her girlfriend or nurse her back to health in the hopes of undoing all that Talon has done to her. Maybe Amelie Lacroix still exists underneath all that purple paint or maybe things will take a dark turn. Talon does want their best sniper back after all.Alternatively; sometimes a family isn't a man, woman and children. Sometimes it's a time-travelling RAF pilot, a biologically enhanced super-sniper, and their cute redhead girlfriend.





	1. Chapter 1

There were many ways that Emily liked to spend her time but waiting for her girlfriend to come home from a dangerous mission fighting the world’s most dangerous mercenary group was, admittedly, not the very top of her list. She blew gently on her mug of tea and tried her best to not spend her entire evening watching the door expectantly waiting for Lena to come home and dreading the night when she wouldn’t.

Trashy sitcom T.V. helped; it was nice seeing a show about a omnic and human romance being so popular even if it did ride the controversy train to fame. She lifted her legs up to her chest and sipped slowly from her tea; the warm mug in her hand was nice but it was no real substitute for her girlfriend.

There was a crack of thunder and she glanced out of the window of her apartment at the bad weather; rain slamming against the window and lightning striking the tops of buildings. She didn’t believe in omens but the rain would make surfaces slippery and though she might be able to rewind time Lena was prone to clumsiness when she wasn’t paying attention to her footing.

Sometimes Emily missed Lena being in the RAF; at least then she wouldn’t be out every night going toe to toe with a french sniper who murdered her own husband and a half-dead serial killer who absorbed the souls of his victims. She still didn’t understand why Overwatch had suddenly reformed after years of being disbanded, or why they needed her Lena.

She felt a chill go over her spine and she shook her head to dispel the image of Lena that had entered her mind. She tried to make a point of remaining positive; Lena could literally travel back in time to save herself if she had to, she was as good as invincible whilst she was using her chrono accelerator.

But still “Widowmaker” was apparently a damn good shot and “Reaper” sounded absolutely terrifying. She put the kettle on again to boil more tea; staring at it and zoning out as her mind was filled with worst case scenarios. The sound of smashing glass and someone stumbling into her living room dragged her forcibly out of her daydreaming and back into the real world. She grabbed a large knife from her drawer and peered into the room from her kitchen.

A hunched over figure stumbled over to her couch; blood trailed behind them as they walked and as they sat down it was clear that there was a gunshot in their abdomen. The figure leaned back and the large coat she was wearing fell away to reveal a beautiful if stern looking woman; a strangely familiar face.

“If you are going to call the police ask for an ambulance whilst you are at it.”

That french accent, the purple tinged skin, it was an unmistakeable identity. Emily stepped back into the kitchen and took a deep breath trying to figure out what to do; the woman in the next room was dangerous and whilst the smart thing to do would be to call the police, her Talon contacts would probably just get her released and then she’d be back out shooting at her Lena.

She glanced down at the knife in her hand and swallowed nervously; she could do it, she was a nurse, she knew what was important, what to stab or she could pretend to call for an ambulance and let her bleed out on her couch.

“Hello?”

She heard the woman groan and sighed knowing that she couldn’t let her die or even kill her herself, but turning her over to the police would probably just result in more death. Maybe turning her over to Overwatch or what remained of it would be better. 

“Mon dieu kill me or call the ambulance just stop hiding and do something.”

She sounded like she was a lot of pain and it gave Emily a sick kind of satisfaction. She retrieved their first aid kit and stepped out into the living room and walked over to the woman. Without a word she began to take off the woman’s clothes; not that Amelie protested, she just groaned but acquiesced mostly.

“How was the mission?”

“Pardon?”

“The mission. How was it.”

Amelie narrowed her eyes down at the woman whose house she had just broken into before letting out a hiss as her top came off too.

“Poorly. I missed my shot and hurt someone I didn’t want to.”

“You’re an assassin, what difference does it make to you?”

Amelie sighed and looked away whilst Emily examined the wound before opening the first aid kit and pushing a bandage to the wound.

“Hold it there.”

Amelie nodded and held the bandage to the bullet wound whilst Emily left the room and returned with a bottle that had a flammable symbol on it and a lighter.

“This is going to hurt.”

“Is that entirely necessary; can’t you just stitch it up or something.”

“I could do this without the fire but you can’t feel anything right? Besides this will be quicker.”

“I can definitely feel pain.”

“Then this next part is going to suck.”

A few seconds later Amelie was screaming into one of their pillows whilst Emily cauterised the wound; when the pain finally stopped Amelie kicked furiously, removing one of the legs of her coffee table and sending the thing smashing to the ground.

“Try not to destroy my home. Who did you end up shooting?”

Amelie groaned and ran a hand through her hair, breathing heavily and trying to not pass out.

“A friend, an old friend.”

Emily felt her blood run cold and yanked the bandage tighter than was probably necessary around Amelie. The woman hissed in pain and was about to protest when a packet of store-bought painkillers was shoved into her hand.

“Take four. You might feel drowsy but it should dull the pain a little bit.”

Amelie glanced from the packet to the woman before shaking her head and setting them to the side.

“I’d rather feel the pain.”

Emily frowned at that but made no comment; as far as she was concerned this woman deserved to suffer self inflicted or not. She helped Amelie to her feet and guided her into the bedroom and over to the bed;

“Why didn’t you call the police?”

“Because your organisation will just send people to retrieve you from wherever you’re being held. That means putting innocent people; doctors, police officers, civilians, at risk. I know how your group operates; if anyone gets in your way you kill them. If you’re here then the only person at risk is me.”

Amelie grunted and Emily gently lay her down.

“They’ll kill you instead.”

Amelie said pointedly but this didn’t seem to phase Emily;

“I’m no stranger to danger. Who did you end up shooting?”

“Lena… sweet Lena.”

Emily clenched her hand into a fist but knelt down next to her; her expression dark as she seemed to fight with something internal.

“Did you kill her?”

“No… maybe.. It’s complicated.”

“Did you hit her chrono accelerator?”

Amelie looked over at her with a confused expression but then slowly nodded. Emily let out a sigh of relief and let go of some of the tension that had been slowly growing inside her; she was still worried about Lena but if she was just zipping through time she’d find her way back home eventually. She always did.

“It’s your lucky day. Winston will get her back in a week or so.”

“How do you know her?”

Emily shrugged off the question and gave a noncommittal answer;

“We’ve met once or twice, I used to work in admin for Overwatch back before they started killing each other.”

Amelie offered up a confused frown and watched as Emily stood up.

“I don’t remember you.”

“You probably wouldn’t.”

Amelie sighed and lay back in the bed; grimacing in pain and staring up at the ceiling.

“Are you happy working for them? Are you happy killing innocent, good people?”

Keeping this woman alive was a mistake and Emily could feel it; she posed a threat to everyone she cared about whilst she was alive and Talon could be here any minute to come collect her.

“Hah…. I don’t feel anything for anyone… except…”

“Except for Lena?”

Amelie swallowed thickly and nodded;

“And now she is gone because of me.”

“Better people than you have tried to kill her and they’ve all failed. She’s fast, smart, and lucky. Luckier than anyone I know. She will find her way back even if it takes her weeks or months.”

Amelie groaned and pressed a hand against the wound near her stomach; the pain coursing through her body, she supposed it was better than the strange empty numbness that occupied her conscience usually.

“I don’t know why I still struggle to live. I don’t fear death, I don’t fear anything, I just know without Lena I am can not feel again.”

There’s a pause and Emily stares at her blankly for a moment;

“You love her don’t you?”

Amelie turned to her and nodded, before hissing in pain again.

“Can you do me a favour.”

The french woman asked;

“I’m not inclined to do anything but I’ll hear it out.”

“I don’t want to hurt her again, can you kill me? I couldn’t stop you, I’m too weak, and Talon has no interest in revenge. Only in getting their assets back. I don’t want to go back and I can’t return to Overwatch, I have nowhere to go.”

Emily sighed; it would be at least a week before Lena returned to their timeline and probably a few more days after that before she was able to return home. There was time to help Amelie and then send her on her way without putting any more people at risk; but how could she know the woman wouldn’t go straight back to killing?

“You shouldn’t tempt me; I don’t think I would lose any sleep over putting you down. Do you have a tracker or gps on you? Something Talon can track to find your whereabouts.”

Amelie nodded;

“A chip buried in my right heel, why?”

Emily sighed, stood up and returned with blankets and then a tub of boiling water and then a selection of knives, tweezers and bandages from her first-aid kit. She set the stuff up and then stripped Amelie’s lower half; the french woman offered up no resistance and just watched with mild curiosity.

“This is going to hurt isn’t it?”

“You have no idea. Do you think you will be able to hold still or shall I bind you to the bed?”

“Best bind me to the bed. Do you have something I can bite down into.”

Emily stood up and groaned; she did, in fact she had things that were perfect for pinning someone to the bed. It felt weird as she tied Amelie down to the bed by her wrists and ankles with silk rope that her and Lena had used for other less gorey reasons in the past. She didn’t have an actual gag though and instead gave Amelie a length of rope tied into a knot and pressed it into her lips.

“This is going to hurt a lot but once I get started I’m not going to stop until I find the chip. Are you absolutely sure it is in your right foot?”

Amelie nods.

“Try not to move too much; you’re pretty bound to the bed but you’ve already destroyed my coffee table, don’t you dare destroy my bed too.”

Amelie rolled her eyes and Emily lifted her right foot slightly and placed one of her towels underneath it. She got the lighter that she had used earlier and passed it along the edge of the blade; not quite cleaning alcohol but better than nothing, she had that same flammable liquid near her too. 

The actual surgery took her about five minutes; Amelie passed out from exhaustion halfway through it, and the result was Emily pulling out the small tracking chip and staring at it for a second. Her instinct was to destroy it but that would mean every Talon agent and their mother was going to come straight to her apartment, the last place the chip had transmitted a signl from.

She stood up, double checked that Amelie was still bound to the bed, and left. She grabbed her coat on the way out and hugged it tight around herself as she waved down a cab; the rain hammered down on top of her and the roof of the car as she stepped into it. 

A mercifully short drive to the nearest train station and a brief walk later she was stood on a station platform; she fondled the tracker in her hand, a small metal rectangle with tiny bits of other metal and a blinking plastic LED in the center. This thing must’ve been uncomfortable to have implanted in her, she wondered what it felt like to have inside you before shuddering and tucking it between the cushions of a train seat.

With that done she made her way home; deciding to walk this time, needing the time to think about what she was doing. Why was she helping Amelie? She constantly put Lena’s life in more danger than it had to be; she had to be out of her mind if she was willing to let this dangerous serial killer go free.

When she arrived back at her apartment she untied Amelie and sat down next to her to begin the long night of monitoring her condition. She moved a chair into the room and fell asleep in it just as the sun began to rise in the morning, her body slumped in her seat and her head resting against the arm of the chair.


	2. Chapter 2

When she awakes she doesn’t know where or who she is; all she knows is that it feels like someone tore a chunk out of her abdomen and right foot. She groaned and pushed herself up; flinching as pain coursed through her body. She took a moment to look around; noticing the woman sat in the chair next to the bed as well as the improvised medical supplies scattered around the room.

She closes her eyes and does what her training has taught her to do; whose training? Someones, she can’t remember. She compartmentalised the pain, stores it away somewhere inside to focus on the here and now. Who was she? Amelie Lacroix, Widowmaker, which one? Both. She grunted and swung her legs out of the bed. Today she was begrudgingly Amelie Lacroix and now she had to fix the mess that the other woman had left her in.

Where was she? She couldn’t remember. A bedroom, an apartment, there’s a single window. She stands and pulls the curtain back to stare out at the London skyline; she recognises the buildings and they trigger something in her mind. A shot, a kill, not a kill something else. The pain was starting to drip back into her consciousness again and she stumbled along the wall into the living room.

Whose apartment; why was she here? The balcony window is open, her gun discarded, she drags it inside and holds it close. She traces her fingers over the surface and violent memories come flooding back; her back jolts up straight and it feels like a current passes through her body. Her mouth opens and closes mutely as last night's events play out in her mind; the stranger cut out her tracker and cauterised her bullet wound.

She glanced down at the nasty ugly scar in her abdomen and tentatively prodded it with her fingers before flinching and pulling away her hand away; she looks for an exit but she knows that in this state she wouldn’t get very far. Clues she needed clues. She stood up on her feet and walks around the apartment trying to figure out who the other woman is.

She knew first-aid and enough about surgery to cut out her tracker and heal her bullet wound. She was experienced around blood and gore because she’d didn’t hesitate at operating on her foot. She stumbled over to a collection of portraits; graduation cap, doctors coat, nurse? Doctor? She grit her teeth and walked over to a cupboard and yanked it open; a photo-album, that’s what she was looking for.

She yanked it open; definitely doctor not nurse, her blonde friend looked familiar. Was that Overwatch headquarters?

A sound from the bedroom causes her head to snap up and she watches the bedroom door suspiciously for a moment before going back to the photos. She recalled the name of the blonde; Angela Ziegler, so her savior knew the dear doctor? She continues to flick through the photo album before shoving it back into the cupboard and shutting it.

She stumbled as quickly and quietly as she could back over to the photos; she knew the brunette from somewhere. The face was familiar; boyish and friendly, the haircut, those eyes those beautiful eyes. Amelie’s heart wrenches in her chest as she remembers more. She runs a hand through her hair before walking over to the couch where she had left her gun and sitting down.

The bedroom door opens and she trains her rifle on it; slowly out steps Emily yawning and rubbing her eyes. She freezes in the doorway and stares at Amelie for a moment.

“Who are you?”

“Isn’t it easier to kill when you don’t know the victim’s name?”

“Who says I plan to kill you?”

Emily gestures at the rifle aimed at her and Amelie sets it to the side for the moment; her hand still resting on it but the barrel is no longer pointed at her rescuer.

“Why did you save me?”

“Hippocratic oath.”

Amelie snorted at that but then groaned as the gesture sent pain coursing through her body.

“I wouldn’t move too much. Your injuries are quite serious.”

“Why did you cut out my tracker?”

“I made a judgement call. You felt guilty that you shot Lena, you  _ asked  _ me to kill you so you wouldn’t do it again. You told me where to find the tracker. I reasoned that you were done with Talon, wanted out, plus they’re hopefully halfway on their way to Glasgow which means we have some time before they zero in on your position.”

Amelie huffs and leans back; letting go of the rifle completely.

“Is Lena dead?”

“No she’s not. But she is taken.”

Amelie’s head jolted down at that and Emily grinned with insufferable smugness from the doorway.

“I don’t ca-”

“Yes you do.”

Amelie looked away at that and Emily walked over into the kitchen.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because she’s my girlfriend. I felt it would only be fair to let you scope out the competition before trying to win her affections.”

A kettle was turned on in the kitchen and Emily hummed to herself as she set out two mugs;

“Coffee or tea?”

“Coffee. With a slice of lemon.”

“That sounds absolutely disgusting.”

“It’s better than that brown swill you english call a drink.”

Emily chuckled at that and came in a few minutes later with two hot mugs; one of coffee with a slice of lemon on the side, and one full of tea. She set the coffee down infront of Amelie and then sat down on the floor and stared at her. She placed her tea on the coffee table and grabbed Amelie’s gun whilst she was busy taking a sip of the drink.

“Why shouldn’t I kill you?”

Emily asked softly; the gun pointed at Amelie, her finger gently gliding over the trigger. Amelie just stared it down for a moment before sipping her coffee again.

“You should.”

“That’s a silly thing to say considering last night you supposedly almost killed my girlfriend; why tempt me?”

“I don’t think you’ll pull the trigger. Lena has better taste than doctors that murder people in cold-blood.”

“Does it count as murder if you pose such an obvious threat to me?”

Amelie considered the question between sips; the warm, bitter liquid giving her body strength of a sorts.

“If you wanted to kill me it would’ve been easier to have just let me bleed out last night. You didn’t. You studied with Angela Ziegler, I’m assuming dorm-mates, you even came to work for Overwatch which means you probably have hers and theirs misguided sense of justice too. I don’t think you’ll kill me because morally you consider such an act reprehensible.”

Emily lowered the gun to the floor and took a sip from her tea.

“I suppose you have me all figured out.”

“I do have one question.”

“Go ahead.”

“What next?”

There was an awkward silence followed by the sound of two people sipping drinks thoughtfully.

“Talon is going to come after you again right?”

Amelie nodded.

“There’s no way to deter them; they’ve invested a lot of money and time in you. They want their asset back.”

“Oui.”

“So your best bet is a life of exile; traveling from one country to the other, always a step ahead of your pursuers.”

“Romantic but I doubt that would last long.”

“The alternative is bring down Talon or eliminate enough Talon agents that chasing after you becomes too inconvenient or too costly for you to do.”

“They’ve got agents as dangerous if not more so than me. That’s impossible.”

There’s another pause and they both sip their drinks again.

“You should have let me die, or just handed me into the police. You’ve made yourself a target and I can’t protect you, I can’t even protect myself at the moment.”

Emily sighed and rose; she carried her mug back into the kitchen and put two slices of bread into the toaster.

“So our only option is to just hand you back to Talon?”

She called back into the living room.

“You don’t know them like I do. They are relentless, I’ll be off their radar for a week at most before they track me back here. Then they’ll come, kill you, drag me back and then… then…”

There’s silence and Emily returns to the living room; walking over to a hunched over Amelie.

“Is it the pain?”

Amelie shakes her head; as Emily touches her she flinches away, huddling in on herself and breathing heavily for a moment before grunting and standing up.

“I should leave. If you die because of me Lena would never forgive me.”

Emily scoffed at that;

“You’re not her favourite person to begin with.”

Amelie sighed and lay herself out on the couch; trying to ease some of the constant pain in her stomach.

“I know but killing her girlfriend makes the whole thing go from “unlikely” to “impossible” very very quickly.”

The bread pops out of the toaster and Emily butters both slices before placing them on a plate and setting them down next to Amelie.

“Eat; you’ll need to keep your strength up. Or something. You’re different from how you were last night.”

“How do you know this isn’t a part of my plan to take you hostage? For all you know you could be Talon’s next target, leverage over Lena.”

“Am I?”

Amelie chuckles and shakes her head;

“She has kept you a very safe secret or somebody has; probably that gorilla. If we had known about you we would have come for you a long time ago; in fact we would have just murdered you in your sleep and then waited for Lena to come home to do the same to her.”

“Well I suppose I owe Winston a coke.”

Amelie sighed and picked up a slice of the toast; nibbling on a corner and staring up at the ceiling for a awkward moment.

“So… what is the plan.”

“We stall until Lena comes back, she will know what to do.”

“And what if she just kills me to be done with this whole mess?”

“Then she’ll kill you to be done with this whole mess. I haven’t killed you because I believe there’s an alternative and also because I have no idea what you’ve done or who you’ve killed, Lena thinks you’re evil but I know nothing about that. As far as I know you’re just an injured person who stumbled into my apartment.”

“So you’ll let her kill me?”

“No. Don’t be ridiculous. Lena won’t kill you.”

She sighed and knew that Emily was right; no matter what Lena wouldn’t kill her if she was unarmed and wounded like this, she just wasn’t that kind of soldier. She had morals and they would get her killed eventually, it always happened, Gerard had morals and look what happened to him.

“When I go to sleep again I don’t know who will wake up; me, or Widowmaker. I don’t want to hurt you, I don’t want to hurt anyone, she has no such compunctions. She’s kept me alive up until now and if she led me here then I trust that this is where I should be but don’t trust a single word she says.”

“I wasn’t planning to. I need to go to work, can I trust that you won’t trash my apartment whilst I’m out?”

She chuckled and nodded.

“I can’t promise that I’ll still be here when you come back though, if Talon comes for me I’ll leave with them.”

“Then you better hope that my distraction keeps them stalled.”

Emily stood up and left Amelie alone so that she could shower and get dressed; what they would do in the future both weighing heavily on their minds. Suddenly the front door opened and a very exhausted and very much stable Lena Oxton stepped into the apartment.

“Honey I’m back! Sorry I was so late I had to get Winston to do quick repairs on my chron-”

Amelie and Lena stared at each other for the longest moment and then the RAF pilot pulled out a knife from her boot and lunged straight for the french sniper.

  
  



End file.
